“While
bicycle adventure-touring turns from days into weeks and weeks into
into months, you turn a corner in your mind, your heart and your spirit.
You tap into a wellspring of eternal emotional bliss. You push two
pedals that give your body renewed energy with every stroke. You see
things differently while gaining whole new perspectives. You transform
from one person into a whole new individual everyday. Ironically,
no psychologist can figure it out. But you know! The energy of the
universe charges through every cell in your body to create pure magic.”
—Frosty Wooldridge

Route
40 runs high and low over the semi-arid Utah desert. A line of sedimentary
mountains fences the highway providing geological marvels that keep
your eyes interested the entire ride.

(These
big guys roamed Utah and Colorado millions of years ago.)

The rush of Nature opens to you in little ways, different ways and
interesting ways. A hawk may catch your attention as it flutters over
an intended pray. A jackrabbit hops across the road. A songbird entertains
you from a nearby fence post. A coyote howls from a distant hill.
An endless parade of Mother Nature’s wonders appears before
you.

From
that “parade”, you gain a spiritual peacefulness within
your soul. Sometimes, you might find yourself pedaling down the road
with a song erupting from your lips. “Zippidy do dah, zippidy
aaa, my oh my, what a wonderful day, plenty of sunshine coming my
way, zipiddy do dah, zipiddy aaa…oh Mr. Blue Bird is on my shoulder,
it’s a fact, it’s actual, everything is satisfactual….”
(Or, your favorite song.)

We
pedaled our way in Roosevelt, Utah. It proved a simple town of less
than 10,000 stuck out in the middle of nowhere. However, you never
know what might lead you to new discoveries.

We
stopped at the Frontier Bar and Grill with a picture of President
Teddy Roosevelt over the fireplace from 1902.

(President
Teddy Roosevelt, one of the most popular U.S. presidents, also featured
on Mount Rushmore, South Dakota.)

Ironically,
and I never knew this factoid; above the mantle next to Roosevelt’s
painting, an 8”X10” framed note said, “In 1902,
President Teddy Roosevelt visited Mississippi to participate in a
bear hunt. The good citizens of that state wanted to make sure that
he bagged a bear, so they chained a young bear to a tree while the
guides maneuvered Roosevelt to the vicinity of the bear. The president
immediately noticed something wrong because the bear behaved abnormally.
Upon closer inspection, Roosevelt saw the chains and demanded an explanation.

“After
they gave him their reasons for chaining the bear, the president said
it would not be sporting of him to shoot a chained bear. He let the
bear go. From that point, the local media ran the story about the
president saving the bear. It became known as “Teddy’s
bear.” An enterprising man started making “Teddy Bears”
for little girls. The bear caught on and today, endless millions of
Teddy Bears lay in cribs, kids rooms and homes around the world.”

“I’ll
be darned,” I said. “I never knew anything about that
story.”

“Pretty
neat,” said Wayne.

(This
is a discarded Teddy Bear we found along Route 40 heading into Roosevelt.)

We
passed several more towns on our way into Vernal, Utah, the land of
dinosaurs. We visited the museum. More fun than you can imagine as
you watch those 50-ton monsters prey upon anything and everything
that carried a heart beat.

(No
one would like to get in the middle of a fight with these two guys.)

Nearby, you may visit Dinosaur National Monument where you see how
the dinosaurs died in mud banks that preserved their bones.

Visit
the Quarry Exhibit Hall, located over the world-famous Carnegie Dinosaur
Quarry. The Quarry Exhibit Hall allows visitors to view the wall of
approximately 1,500 dinosaur bones in a refurbished, comfortable space.
You can gaze upon the remains of numerous different species of dinosaurs
including Allosaurus, Apatosaurus, Camarasaurus, Diplodicus, and Stegosaurus
along with several others. Exhibits, including an 80-foot long mural,
reveal the story of these animals and many others that lived in the
Morrison environment during
the late Jurassic. You may touch real 149 million year old dinosaur
fossils.

(Vernal,
Utah features a great museum and tons of flowers.)

“Can’t
imagine how such creatures grew to such size,” said Howard.
“As I pedal through all this sedimentary rock, I see from the
geological records that this area saw 29 incursions of the oceans
and 29 recessions in the last five million years. That’s a lot
of upheaval and a lot of living and dying of different species.”

“Yeah,”
said Wayne. “And, we are part of the grand march of time. Just
glad to get a chance to see it on our bicycles.”

“Let’s
head east toward Colorado,” I said. “Seems like we can
find a campsite where dinosaurs once stopped for a rest themselves.”

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“Let’s
git ‘er done,” said Howard, sticking his foot into the
straps and shoving off. “This has been a heck of a day.”

“The
very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure.
The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and
hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon,
for each day to have a new and different sun.” — Christopher
McCandless

(Watching
an everchanging sky at sunset while sitting around a campfire after
a great day of pedaling. Life well lived and an evening of magic.)

Frosty Wooldridge possesses a unique
view of the world, cultures and families in that he has bicycled
around the globe 100,000 miles, on six continents and six times
across the United States in the past 30 years. His published books
include: "HANDBOOK FOR TOURING BICYCLISTS"; “STRIKE THREE!
TAKE YOUR BASE”; “IMMIGRATION’S UNARMED INVASION:
DEADLY CONSEQUENCES”; “MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURE TO ALASKA:
INTO THE WIND—A TEEN NOVEL”; “BICYCLING AROUND
THE WORLD: TIRE TRACKS FOR YOUR IMAGINATION”; “AN EXTREME
ENCOUNTER: ANTARCTICA.” His next book: “TILTING THE
STATUE OF LIBERTY INTO A SWAMP.” He lives in Denver, Colorado.

We
pedaled our way in Roosevelt, Utah. It proved a simple town of less
than 10,000 stuck out in the middle of nowhere. However, you never know
what might lead you to new discoveries. We stopped at the Frontier Bar
and Grill with a picture of President Teddy Roosevelt over the fireplace
from 1902.